Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine

Musical Peace: Market Square Presbyterian Church’s Arts on the Square launches season with anti-war piece “The Armed Man” on Oct. 15.

A recent rehearsal for “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace”

Halfway around the world, when Russia launched its war on Ukraine earlier this year, it sparked an idea within Tyler Canonico, minister of music at Harrisburg’s Market Square Presbyterian Church.

He knew the perfect piece of music to convey world peace. That’s why “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” leads off the church’s 2022-23 Arts on the Square Concert Series on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.

“Although I was hoping the war would be over by the time the concert came, in the meantime, gun violence began to rise, so this concert speaks to both world peace and an end of gun violence,” said Canonico.

Created by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, the piece will feature about 75 Harrisburg-area singers and musicians, including the Sanctuary Choir of Market Square Church and the community-based Market Square Singers, plus professional musicians plucked from regional orchestras such as the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. It also features Market Square Presbyterian’s artist-in-residence, organist Peter Yardley-Jones of the Swiss Church in London.

“It’s a moving piece—it takes you on a journey,” said Canonico, of the hour-long composition. “You’ll have joy, a calming aspect, moments of heart wrench and sadness, but it brings it back to a positive ending to find peace.”

The performance is being presented in partnership with the Harrisburg Chapter of Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence, a Philadelphia-area nonprofit organization with several Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., chapters.

“We wanted to work with them and use this performance in a way that not only promotes world peace, but peace in our own streets,” said John Robinson, Arts on the Square spokesman. “Because it’s all about the madness of war—the horror of it, but by the end there are rays of sunshine and the hope for the achievement of peace.”

Although “The Armed Man” has been produced nearly a thousand times around the world since it was written in 1999, Robinson doesn’t believe it has ever been performed in central Pennsylvania.

It’s a piece on par with major works such as Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” which will be presented at Arts on the Square’s December “Carols by Candlelight” performance, Canonico said.

Following the conclusion of “The Armed Man,” the choir will sing four additional numbers to underscore the theme of peace, including “Amazing Grace” arranged by Michael McCarthy, director of music at Washington National Cathedral, and ending with the spiritual “We Shall Overcome.”

“It’s going to be a powerhouse of a concert,” said Canonico.

The Arts on the Square Concert Series began in 2020 after Market Square Presbyterian hosted the Vienna Boys Choir to a standing-room-only audience in 2019.

Tickets, priced at $20, are available at the door, or in advance via the church’s website at https://www.marketsquarechurch.org/event-details/the-armed-man-a-mass-for-peace. Market Square Presbyterian Church is located at 20 S. 2nd St., Harrisburg.

If you like what we do, please support our work. Become a Friend of TheBurg!

 

Continue Reading